Click on the image to see a larger version. (I think the drawing is nicer than my usual on this one). (Of course, it’s still new; in a month I’ll probably hate the art.)
Comments will be tightly moderated on this one; insulting comments are subject to being deleted at my whim.
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels, plus a tiny fifth “kicker” panel at the end. Below the entire cartoon, a large caption says SUCH AN EASY MISTAKE TO MAKE.
All panels show two women, on a suburban looking sidewalk, waiting by a sign that says “bus.” One woman has black hair in a ponytail, is wearing a hoodie and a calf-length black skirt, and is carrying a purse. The other woman has short, spiky blonde hair, a sleeve tattoo covering her left arm, and is wearing pinstripe pants with a black sweater-vest over a white tee shirt.
PANEL 1
The woman with the ponytail is leaning towards the woman with the spiky haircut. The woman with a spiky haircut is holding a cell phone. (It’s a flip phone, because this cartoon was drawn in 2009 and flip phones were the ultimate in cool.)
PONYTAIL: Excuse me, I overheard what you said on your cell phone… and I totally agree. A transsexual just isn’t a woman!
SPIKY: Oh! Well, thank you. It sometimes feels like the whole idea of “woman” is being attacked.
PANEL 2
Both women’s body language gets very energized as they bounce off each other’s ideas. Ponytail holds out her arms, palms up, in a “come on!” gesture; Spiky leans in, smiling, and holds up a finger to make a point.
PONYTAIL: Exactly! I’m sorry, but there’s so much more to being a woman than wearing a dress or having some surgery!
SPIKY: Yes, yes, yes! There’s something essential that men can’t just buy from surgeons!
PANEL 3
Ponytail looks annoyed as she thinks about being called a transphobe; Spiky angrily agrees with her, spreading her arms wide.
PONYTAIL: You wanna know what I really hate? The word transphobia!
SPIKY: Me too! The word is a scare tactic they use to silence anyone who disagrees with the trans agenda.
PANEL 4
Ponytail, very happy, holds her hands together in front of her. Spiky, smiling, holds a hand to her chest in a “me?” gesture.
PONYTAIL: This is so nice… I love meeting other radical feminists!
SPIKY: Radical feminist? Are you kidding? I’m a conservative Christian!
TINY KICKER PANEL AT THE BOTTOM
Ponytail facepalms as Spiky looks a little disappointed.
SPIKY: Does this mean we can’t be friends?
Pingback: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Feminism is not your expectation.
Pingback: The Fundamentalist Viewpoint « Questioning Transphobia
Meep @62 wrote:
Meep, I understand completely why you feel that way. It’s frustrating that it always has to be an issue, and that most places I go, people always feel okay about displaying their ignorance and bigotry about trans people.
It’s interesting, because I was feeling just the opposite for much of this thread. Ordinarily, when I visit spaces on the web which are not explicitly trans, cis people feel free to make all sorts of disparaging comments, and ask all sorts of mean-spirited rhetorical questions. If I speak up, I’m the only trans person present, and even when I try to keep it theoretical, people quickly make it personal, and that’s if we ever get past the dismissive “whacko gender theorists” comments.
But here, most of the people defending me and those like me are cis people. Here’s a space where, when someone says something bigoted, I’m not alone, or first, in calling them on it. Cis people have already gotten angry on behalf of trans people, and they don’t even know me.
It feels really good. Frankly, as I type this, I’ve got tears in my eyes.
Thanks, everyone. This kind of safe space shouldn’t be unusual, but it is, and I really can’t adequately express how wonderful it feels.
Grace
nexyjo @98:
You’re right. That’s an awesome definition, and the closest to be right that I’ve seen.
Grace
Acer @51 wrote:
In addition to the other references, you might try
http://www.tsroadmap.com/start/index.html
Grace
something for everyone to consider, gender isn’t black and white the reason trans individuals make the choice to change gender isn’t because they woke up one morning and said, oh hey i wanna be a man or a woman, it isn’t that simple.
in the most common case of people transitioning there is a medical and psychological diagnosis that determines a person’s internal identity
this is a condition called gender identity disphoria, it is a condition that is hard wired into the brain of the individual suffering from the condition, it is by no means something an individual can switch on or off because they are hard wired as the opposite gender that their physical body is and they often exhibit great suffering living in their body. so yes essentially a MTF (male to female is technically a woman trapped in a guy’s body) the same would be true of a FTM (female to male) there is just no helping them with the exception of surgery to allow the body to fit what the mind is essentially stuck as, and since it is hard wired in the part of the brain that determines gender, it would be unethical to perform brain surgery, because there is nothing wrong with that individual. the only thing wrong with them is that they were born in the wrong body.
i posted this for those who don’t quite grasp the concept of being trans.
it isn’t their fault they are trans it is simply the result of nature being diverse and selective